A keyword is a name standing in for a rule. The Comprehensive Rules explain why keywords exist: "Most abilities describe exactly what they do in the card's rules text. Some, though, are very common or would require too much space to define on the card. In these cases, the object lists only the name of the ability as a 'keyword'; sometimes reminder text summarizes the game rule" (702.1). That last clause is the catch. Reminder text is "italicized text within parentheses that summarizes a rule that applies to that card" (207.2a), and the rules are blunt about its standing: the text box "may also contain italicized text that has no game function" (207.2). The reminder text on a hexproof card never mentions that removal which does not target, an edict, a board wipe, a minus-toughness effect, walks straight through it. The reminder text on a vigilance card never tells you the creature can still tap for mana in the middle of combat. Every guide in this glossary therefore starts from the actual rule, quotes it, lists what the mechanic does not do, and ends with the current list of cards that use it, read from our own card database rather than from memory.
Keyword actions work the same way from the other side. They are verbs with a rules meaning, "game terms" in the words of rule 701.1, such as explore, scry, mill and proliferate, and a card that uses one is leaning on a definition it does not print. This index groups both kinds by how you meet them at the table.
The index, grouped by what the mechanic is for
Mechanics with a full guide are linked, and every guide links back here near its top. The others appear as plain text with the rule that defines them, and get their own page as the glossary grows. Every rule number points at the Comprehensive Rules effective September 25, 2026.
Evergreen combat keywords
| Mechanic | Rule | In one line |
|---|---|---|
| Vigilance | 702.20 | Attacking does not cause the creature to tap, so it can still block, or tap for an ability, afterwards |
| Trample | 702.19 | An attacker assigns lethal damage to its blockers and the rest to the player, planeswalker or battle it is attacking |
| Menace | 702.111 | Cannot be blocked except by two or more creatures |
| First strike | 702.7 | Deals its combat damage in a first combat damage step, before creatures without it |
| Double strike | 702.4 | Deals combat damage in both combat damage steps |
| Deathtouch | 702.2 | Any nonzero damage it deals to a creature is enough to destroy that creature |
| Haste | 702.10 | Can attack the turn it comes under your control, ignoring summoning sickness |
| Flash | 702.8 | May be cast any time you could cast an instant |
| Lifelink | 702.15 | Damage it deals also causes its controller to gain that much life |
| Indestructible | 702.12 | Cannot be destroyed: lethal damage and "destroy" effects do nothing to it |
| Hexproof | 702.11 | Cannot be the target of spells or abilities your opponents control |
| Ward | 702.21 | Counters an opponent's spell or ability that targets it unless they pay the ward cost |
| Protection | 702.16 | From a quality: cannot be damaged, enchanted or equipped, blocked, or targeted by anything with that quality |
| Prowess | 702.108 | Gets +1/+1 until end of turn whenever you cast a noncreature spell |
Card selection and counters
| Mechanic | Rule | In one line |
|---|---|---|
| Scry (the game mechanic) | 701.22 | Look at the top N cards, put any number on the bottom and the rest back on top in any order |
| Surveil | 701.25 | Look at the top N cards, put any number into your graveyard and the rest back on top |
| Proliferate | 701.34 | Choose any number of permanents and players with a counter and give each one more of each kind already there |
| Counters | 122 | Markers on an object or player that modify it; a +1/+1 counter adds one to power and one to toughness |
| Explore | 701.44 | Reveal the top card: a land goes to your hand, anything else gives a +1/+1 counter and a choice to keep it on top or bin it |
| Connive | 701.50 | Draw a card, then discard a card; a nonland discard adds a +1/+1 counter |
Casting and cost
| Mechanic | Rule | In one line |
|---|---|---|
| Cascade | 702.85 | On cast, exile from the top until a cheaper nonland card appears, cast it for free if you want to, and the rest go to the bottom |
| Convoke | 702.51 | Tap your creatures to pay for the spell, one mana each, matching colours for coloured mana |
| Improvise | 702.126 | Tap your artifacts to pay the spell's generic mana |
| Storm | 702.40 | On cast, copy the spell once for each other spell cast before it this turn |
Board and format concepts
| Mechanic | Rule | In one line |
|---|---|---|
| The monarch | 725 | A designation one player holds: draw a card at your end step, and lose it when a creature deals combat damage to you |
| Commander damage | 903.10a | A player dealt 21 or more combat damage by the same commander over the course of the game loses |
| Tokens | 111 | Markers representing permanents that are not cards, created by effects |
| Mill | 701.17 | Put that many cards from the top of a library into its owner's graveyard |
| Landfall | 207.2c | An ability word, not a keyword: it labels abilities that trigger when a land enters under your control and has no rules meaning of its own |
| Typal | 205.2a | Decks built around one creature type; the card type once called tribal is now "kindred" |
| Slivers | creature type | A creature type designed so that each Sliver shares its abilities with the others |
| Regenerate | 701.19 | A shield that replaces the next destruction this turn: remove the damage, tap it, remove it from combat |
| Fear | 702.36 | Cannot be blocked except by artifact creatures and/or black creatures |
Card history
| Topic | Rule | In one line |
|---|---|---|
| The Power Nine | none | The nine cards from the game's earliest sets that every "too strong" since has been measured against; no rules entry, a card-by-card history |
Behind every linked page is the same data. Our card database holds 720 Commander-legal cards with vigilance, 53 with explore and 37 with cascade at the September 2026 build, and each guide lists the ones Commander players actually run, with the mana cost and the rules text as printed.
How to search by what a card does
Most card searches start with a word you already know. The interesting ones start with an effect you cannot name. Scry, the search behind our card browser, matches on what the rules text does rather than on the keyword, so a question in plain language works, and each of these three is a live search you can open:
- Creatures that attack without tapping: the vigilance creatures, and the Equipment and enchantments that grant it.
- Reveal the top card and put a land into my hand: the explore cards and the Map token makers together.
- Cast a random cheaper spell for free: the cascade cards, plus the cards that grant cascade.
Type your own question the same way. Scry reads the English rules text, so a description of the effect in English gets the best results, and the keyword fallback catches exact names when the description is a single word. How Scry reads a question has more examples.
Build with what you just learned
Reading about a mechanic is one thing. Watching it work in a list is another. The deck builder is open without an account: paste a list or start from a commander, and the legality checks and the mana curve update as you add cards. Grover, our deck assistant, takes a brief in plain language, such as "give this deck three more ways to keep the monarch", and proposes swaps with reasons. When you are ready to see how the mechanics fit real lists, browse the public decks and the Commander hub, where every commander page lists the cards its decks run most. If Commander itself is new to you, start with what Commander is and how to build a Commander deck.
Sources
- Magic: The Gathering Comprehensive Rules, effective September 25, 2026: https://magic.wizards.com/en/rules. Read on October 13, 2026. Rules 702.1 (keyword abilities), 701.1 (keyword actions), 207.2 and 207.2a (reminder text), 207.2c (ability words), 205.2a (card types), 111.1 (tokens), 122.1 (counters), 725.1 to 725.3 (the monarch) and 903.10a (commander damage) are quoted or paraphrased above, along with the rule cited next to each mechanic in the tables.
- Mana Grove card database, MTGJSON build of September 14, 2026: the counts of Commander-legal cards with vigilance (720), explore (53) and cascade (37).
This page is updated whenever a glossary guide is added. The date at the top is the last revision.